Smoking-pipe cleaner.



C. KNOTH 6a P. WHITBCAR.

' SMOKING PIPE CLEANER. APPL'IUATION PILEDVMAY 25. 1911.-

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C. K NoTH @L F. WHITEGAR. SMOKING PIPE CLEANER. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1911.

1,025,142, Patented may?, 1912.

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conmm PLANOGRAPH CD., WASHINGTON.' D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CONRAD KN OTH .ANDI FRANK WHITECAR, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

SMOKING-PIPE CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 25, 1911.

Patented May *7, 1912.

Serial No. 629,253.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, CONRAD KNOTH and FRANK WHITEGAR, citizens of the United States, residing at Newark, in the" county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Smoking- Pipe Cleaners, of which the following is a. specification.

The objects of this invention are to provide a pipe cleaner which shall be automatically adjustable to t pipebowls of varying sizes and shapes; to provide lateral blades for such a pipe cleaner which can move out and in for such adjustment and yet be strong and rigid for scraping the sides of the pipe bowl when the cleaner is turned; to provide a relatively fixed center stem having an end adapted to clean the center of the bottom of the pipe bowl; to provide such a pipe cleaner which can be cheaply manufactured, and may comprise if desired only a single piece; to secure such a pipe cleaner which will be compact and fiat so that it is easily carried in the pocket or on a key-ring, and to obtain other advantages and results las may be brought out in the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several figures, Figure l is a view of a pipe showing the bowl in central vertical section and one of our improved pipe cleaners in position therein for cleaning said bowl; Fig. 2 is a lateral edge view of t-he cleaner; Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the cleaner taken o-n line A-A of Fig. 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, and Fig. 4 is a side view showing how the pipe cleaner may be stamped out of sheet metal and afterward bent into proper shape; Fig. 5 is a side view of a modified form of the invention, and Fig. 6 is a central longitudinal section on line B-B of the same; Fig. 7 is a side view of another modified form, and Fig. 8 is a central longitudinal section on line C-C of the same; Fig. 9 is a side view of another modified form of pipe cleaner.

In said drawings, and particularly in Figs. l, 2, 3 and 4, l indicates a body portion which, as shown in Fig. 4, can be readliy stamped out of sheet metal and bent into the proper shape afterward. The said body portion consists of a handle 2, a central stem 3 and two blades 4, 4 at the opposite edges of said stem 3. The said blades are connected to the handle 2 at some distance from the central stem 3 and by long slender necks 5, 5 so as to Agive the blades resiliency in an edgewise direction or in the plane of the pipe cleaner. These necks 5 are bent inwardly toward the stem 3, so as to bring the blades 4, 4 close to the said stem, and thus supplement the handle 2 as means for grasping the device to twist it in a pipe bowl. The blades 4, 4 overlap the stem 3 at their lower ends, each on the opposite side of said stem from the other, and thus in turning the stem assists materially in carrying the blades around. The central stem 3 has at its ends shield-shaped point 6 adapted to conform to the bottom of the bowl of a pipe. This point 6 is somewhat wider than the main part of the stem, and this allows the projecting parts of said shield-shaped point to serve as sto-ps against which the two outer blades 4, 4 bear at the inner margins of their lower ends, one on each of the opposite faces of the shield- .shaped point 6. v The outer edges of the blades are curved outward, as at 7, which insures good fit against the inner walls of the bowl of a pipe above the bottom portion engaged by the shield-shaped point- 6. The outer edges of said blades 4, 4 and of the shield-point 6, are naturally sharp enough so that they will scrape the incrustation out of the bowl of a pipe when forced therein against the resilient power of the upper portion of said tongues and twisted. The cleaner is twisted as it is pushed in, and scrapes the bowl progressively inward, the lateral blades acting principally upon the side walls, while the longer middle portion will clean out the bottom of the bowl. In this embodiment of the invention, the outside cutting portions depend principally for their backing, while cutting, upon the central stem 3, and both will out together when the cleaner is turned in one direction and neither when it is turned in the opposite direction.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the main difference is that the central stem 8 is formed of two parts 9, 9, one on either side of the handle 2. Said parts 9 are riveted in place and provide a space between themselves to receive at the shieldshaped point l0 the blades 11, as will be understood. A cleaner of this construction may be turned in either direction in a pipe bowl and will cut equally well either way.

In the modification shown in Figs. 7 and 8 there is no central stem extending froni the handle 12, but the point of the cleaner consists of two shield-shaped portions 13, 13 fastened together, preferably at their tops, and integrally, as shown, and lying parallel to one another with a space between just sufficient to allow the outer blades 14, 14 to work therein. Said shield-shaped portions 13, 13 niay be connected at their outer corners by rivets 15 which work loosely in transverse slots 16 in the blades.

In Fig. 9 one of the blades as 1'? has the point 18 for cleaning the bottom of a bowl formed upon its lower end, this point overlapping one side of the other blade 19, and an arm or projection 2O above said point overlaps the other side of said second blade 19.

Other modifications will occur to the skilled mechanic, and we do not wish to be understood as limiting our invention except as the state of the art inay require.

le do not wish to conne ourselves to a shield-shaped point, for there are other shapes which have desirable features, and neither do we confine ourselves to making the cleaner out of sheet-metal, or in flat forni, if it should subsequently prove advantageous to do otherwise.

Having thus described the invention, what we claiin is:

1. In a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with two of their longitudinal edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, and a point extending beyond said blades to scrape the bottoni of the pipe bowl and adapted to prevent sidewise displacement of the blades with respect to each other.

2. 1n a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with two of their longitudinal. edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, a central stein, and a point on said stein adapted to scrape the bottoni of a pipe bowl and engaging opposite sides of said blades adjacent to their inner edges.

3. 1n a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with two of their longitudinal edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, and a central stein engaging opposite sides of said blades adjacent to their inner edges.

1. In a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with vtwo of their longitudinal edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, a central stein engaging opposite sides of said blades adjacent to their inner edges, and a point on said stein adapted to scrape the bottom of a pipe bowl.

5. 1n a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with two of their longitudinal edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, and a point between said blades and projecting therebeyond adapted to scrape the bottoni of a pipe bowl.

6. In a pipe cleaner, blades arranged with two of their longitudinal edges adjacent and their opposite outer edges adapted to engage the walls of a pipe bowl, supporting necks for said blades affording edgewise resiliency, and a point between said blades overlapping opposite sides of said blades and extending beyond said blades, said point adapted to scrape the bottoni of a pipe bowl.

7. A pipe cleaner consisting of a piece of sheet metal providing a stein with a point at the end thereof adapted to engage the bottom of a pipe bowl, transverse handle .at the other end of said stein, necks projecting from said handle on opposite sides of the stein at a distance therefrom, and blades one on each neck and overlapping upon said stein at its edge adjacent thereto, the outer edges of said blades adapted to scrape the walls of a pipe bowl.

CONRAD KNOTH. FRANK VVIYHTECAR.

Witnesses RUSSELL M. Evnnn'rr, CORNELIUS ZABRISKIE.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

